Larry, the King of Sandwiches

A tale of take-out

If eating and dining out are altogether different notions, then getting takeout must form some odd third tier where convenience and quality strike a tense truce. We decided to devote a column to the intricacies of takeout. Lunch or dinner, we wanted to know about the best places to go when we're on the go. Larry's Lunch Box and Kosher Style Delicatessen, located on Airport Road in Naples, might look like your middle school's cafeteria, but their food is good you'll think you have died and gone to deli heaven.

Prices: From $2.95 for a cup of soup to $9.50 for the beef tongue sandwich

Portions: Huge

Service: Straightforward and efficient. Not a lot of chit-chat, but the folks at Larry's are extremely busy during lunch hours

Drinks: Sodas, tea and mineral water

Delivery: Yes

Payment: Cash, debit or credit

Mess quotient: Standard containers. The sandwiches are large and can be messy, but that's not necessarily a bad thing when you have enough napkins. Which we did.

Overall: One of the best sandwich shops in Naples. Very mom-and-pop with a no-nonsense business attitude. The meats are outstanding, and the variety is impressive.

Ordering: Phone, fax, Web and in person. The latter can take upwards of 20 minutes during the busy lunch hours. It's best to order by 10 a.m. for prompt delivery or pick-up at your chosen time.

Menu: Larry's Lunch Box is exactly what it sounds like: a great mom-and-pop deli. Matzo ball soup and daily soup specials ($2.95 for a cup), 11 salads (ranging from $4.50 to $7.95 for the chicken Caesar), hot dogs ($3.75 to $4.50), chicken sandwiches ($6.95), burgers ($6.25 to $6.95) and more than 30 sandwiches, from beef tongue ($9.50) to Cliff's cosmic connection, which is hot corned beef or pastrami, Swiss cheese and slaw on rye ($9.25). All 30 specialty sandwiches, burgers and hot dogs have a proper noun in the title, like Amazing Al's attitude or Jammin' Jim's jumbo dog.

Food: Here's what we ordered, a good selection of sandwiches and salads to satisfy our midday cravings.

Michelle's Monte Cristo ($8.95) was a top scorer among our group. Made with grilled ham, turkey and Swiss on egg-battered bread and Dijonaisse sauce. Lots to like, but the ham is the star here: It's salty and smokey and blends well with the sauce. The turkey is just an afterthought and doesn't add much to the party, but if they stacked that much ham on the sandwich, it might cause a heart attack. The Dijonaisse was mild, which is fine since it's basically a lubricant on this monster of a sandwich.

Rita's Ruben Ritual ($9.25) is arguably the best Ruben in town. Made with traditional ingredients — hot corned beef, Swiss, sauerkraut, Russian dressing on grilled rye bread — it's a juicy and tender piece of work. The thick, toasted rye bread is the perfect vessel for the meat and cheese. And although sauerkraut can sometimes overpower a Ruben with too much vinegar, this sandwich is a great mix of the classic flavors: sweetness from the dressing, salt from the meat and acid from the kraut. Add in a little extra twang from the rye bread and you have just about every part of your taste buds covered. Forget Twizzlers, this Ruben makes mouths happy.

The chicken salad on onion roll ($6.25) was the only disappointment among the three sandwiches we ordered. The mostly dark-meat chicken was over-mayonnaised and could have been fresher. Sometimes the onion roll was the dominant flavor.

The hot pastrami on rye ($7.95) may be the closest thing to a New York deli food that you'll find in Florida (and that's coming from the New Yorker in our group). It's a big sandwich, easily large enough to share. The three ingredients — meat, mustard and rye bread — created a salt/vinegar synergy.

The seafood bisque ($4 for a bowl) had imitation crab meat with the occasional tiny piece of shrimp. Throw in a cream sauce, a few herbs and spices, and that's Larry's bisque.

The casual chef salad ($6.50) was made with romaine lettuce, ham, turkey, cheddar, Swiss, a hardboiled egg, croutons, tomato wedges and sprouts. We ordered bleu cheese dressing, which was standard. The lettuce was crisp and the sprouts were a nice topping. Everything was fresh. Nothing special, but good.

Jammin' Jim's Jumbo hot dog ($3.75) was a Kosher/Hebrew National dog, chopped onions and mustard on a large, toasted bun. It's really a fancy hotdog cut in half and placed on thick sub-like bread. The Jammin' Jim's is a quality dog, but it may be a better offering with a traditional hot dog bun instead of the sub roll.

Larry's fries ($2.50) were a little soggy by the time we got back to the office. Still good, but if they'd put them in something better than a paper bag they could have still been excellent.

The onion rings ($3.50) were small and crunchy with sweet onions inside. Good, but not those giant, homemade rings found in some establishments. Tasted like prefab (but not unpleasant). There was a good ratio of batter to onion, enough to give it a good amount of crunch but not so much that you miss the onion.

FINAL TAKE: Larry's Lunch Box just plain makes a good sandwich. The meats are great and the breads may be better. Order by phone if time is short. A little on the expensive side for a deli, but there's no discounting the outstanding sandwiches. We fed six people for $60…. Not too shabby, uh?